This invention relates to a treating agent dispensing apparatus of a laundry machine such as a washer and dryer capable of automatically casting a predetermined amount of treating agent, such as a detergent or finishing agent, into a washing or rinsing tank during a desired process.
In order to dispense e.g. a finishing agent as the treating agent automatically into the washing tank during the desired process, some of prior art washing machines are so designed that a treating agent dispensing vessel to store a charge of treating agent is disposed under the control box of the washing machine so that it may rock between a dispensing stand-by position where it can receive and reserve the finishing agent and a shooting position where the finishing agent is discharged into the washing tank.
With the washing machines of this type, the part of the opening portion of the treating agent dispensing vessel is projected into an entrance and exit for the laundry or clothes, a charge of finishing agent is fed into the treating agent dispensing vessel through the projected opening portion, and the vessel is brought into the dispensing stand-by position. When the desired process is reached, the treating agent dispensing vessel is rocked to the dispensing position to discharge the finishing agent into the washing tank. After the finishing agent is dispensed, therefore, the treating agent dispensing vessel rocked to the dispensing position needs to be manually returned to the dispensing stand-by position where it can reserve another charge of treating agent for the next dispensation. Such returning operation, however, is quite a troublesome operation because it requires the operator to place his hand into the entrance and exit for the laundry and because such entrance and exit needs a bulky cover which is not very easy to handle. Moreover, it is necessary to measure the amount of finishing agent to be shot by using a measuring cup, which adds to the troubles of the finishing agent dispensing operation.
The object of this invention is to provide a treating agent dispensing apparatus of a laundry machine capable of easily returning a treating agent dispensing vessel from a dispensing position to a dispensing stand-by position, and of fixed-quantity feeding of treating agent into the treating agent dispensing vessel in the dispensing stand-by position in conjunction with the returning operation, thus simplifying in general the preparations for the automatic dispensing of treating agent.
In an aspect of this invention, there is provided a treating agent dispensing apparatus of a laundry machine having a tank, which comprises a treating agent storage source, a treating agent dispensing vessel rockable between a dispensing stand-by position where a treating agent is reservably received and a dispensing position where the reserved treating agent is discharged into the tank, a driving mechanism for rocking the treating agent dispensing vessel from the dispensing stand-by position to the dispensing position, a control member movable between an original position and a treating agent feed region via a vessel return region, an interlocking mechanism operatively connected with the control member to be moved thereby when the control member is moved from the original position and is passing through the vessel return region, whereby the treating agent dispensing vessel is rocked and returned from the dispensing position to the dispensing stand-by position, and a treating agent feeding mechanism operatively connected with the control member to be moved thereby when the control member is moved from the vessel return region and is passing through the treating agent feed region, whereby a predetermined amount of treating agent from the treating agent storage source is fed into the treating agent dispensing vessel located in the dispensing stand-by position.
In the aforementioned treating agent dispensing apparatus of a laundry machine of this invention, the treating agent dispensing vessel can be returned to the stand-by position by only transferring the control member to the treating agent feed region via the vessel return region, and the treating agent can be fed into the vessel by means of the treating agent feeding mechanism in such stand-by position. Accordingly, both the vessel returning operation and the operation for feeding the treating agent into the vessel can be performed by only a single action. Further, the amount of treating agent to be fed can be easily controlled in accordance with the displacement of the control member.